Why do adults run away from reality? All forms of escapism, their benefits and harms

physician, psychosomatologist, neuropsychologist

“The term “escapism” appeared at the beginning of the last century and, in simple words, it is about a way of escaping from the real world. We will talk about the history of its emergence a little later. To begin with, let’s understand the essence of the concept in detail. What is escapism?”.

The life of any person consists of a series of events. Various situations happen to us. Not always pleasant. Sometimes even tragic.

The human psyche is organized in such a way that any deviation from the comfortable and constant is perceived as a threat to safety, and so it tries to return us to a more familiar state. One way to do this is to refocus attention from the negative to more pleasant, everyday things. This is called escapism – from the English word escape.

نبذة تاريخية

It is believed that the widespread use of the term “escape” (escape) begins in literature in the early 1930s, and before that “escape from reality” was often used in his works by Charles Dickens (around the middle of the XIX century).

After the introduction of the term escape, all stories of escape or salvation in literature began to be understood as a manifestation of escapism. And they are found in biblical texts, in the works of Homer, and in children’s fairy tales.

In 1939 the word “escapism” appeared in the dictionary for the first time, and in the 40s and 50s it was actively spread in various spheres – political, cultural, historical and others. Since the 1960s the term is finally fixed in English-language dictionaries with the meaning of “escape from reality”.

In the Russian-speaking environment, the closest in meaning was the word “otdushina”, fixed in 1949 in Ozhegov’s dictionary. Later, with the development of this concept and due to the lack of an equivalent Russian term for it, the word “escapism” was also fixed in our dictionaries. Its exact meaning is “escape from reality”. The word was somewhat unfamiliar for pronunciation and spelling, but it still took root.

All facets of escapism

Escape from reality, although it has a negative context, is not really something exceptionally bad. It allows us to reboot our “computer”, to give ourselves time to come to terms with circumstances, which often leads to making decisions to get out of crisis situations.

Another thing is when we start to spend most of our life in an attempt to escape from reality… This does not help us to solve the accumulated problems, but aggravates them.

As has probably become clear from the definition, escapism is considered practical any activity that contributes to escape from reality, and there are many such options. Some of them are harmless enough, while others lead to the fact that a person destroys his life and spoils it for his loved ones. Then escapism becomes a problem.

The most common forms of escape from reality include: reading literature, watching TV series, video games, the Internet and social networks, doing creative work, sports and travel, as well as various hobbies cosplay, meditation and even religion. By the way, overeating, workaholism, alcoholism and drug addiction are also forms of escapism.

In this regard, two types of escapism are distinguished: healthy and unhealthy. In other words – this phenomenon has both positive and negative aspects. It is important to realize that, in fact, almost all people are escapists to one degree or another.

Each of us has an occupation that allows us, at least for a while, but to disconnect from personal and external problems of the real world. Therefore, we cannot say that escapism is a mental disorder, but its extreme forms definitely indicate the presence of deviations in a person.

As you realized from the historical reference above, escapism has existed for a huge number of years, but in fact this phenomenon of the human psyche is not even a few centuries old. Rock paintings in the caves of primitive people are also a form of escapism. For them, primitive art served as a distraction from constant hunting and an escape from predators. With the development of mankind, there are more ways to escape from reality, and given that we live in the age of digitalization, their number has increased by leaps and bounds.

How does a person escape from reality today?

Today, addiction to the Internet and computer games has become the number one form of escapism. Agree, even a few decades ago it was more difficult to realize, although even then a lot of people, especially children, went into the Network with their heads. Spending almost all their free time at the monitor, they earned a lot of health problems: eyesight, musculoskeletal system and others.

Also, social relations have suffered, mental development has been disturbed. And most importantly – all this has definitely imprinted on the psyche of each of us.

In the future, the problem of addiction to the Internet and video games can be called genetic, as well as many things that characterize a whole generation, and then is a hereditary memory.

With the advent of smartphones, the situation has become even greater, because escape from reality can now be realized at any moment. Of course, the Internet also gives us a lot of new knowledge, opportunities that significantly improve life, develop and help. But let’s honestly answer at least to ourselves: what percentage ratio of using a smartphone to get new knowledge and to escape from reality we actually have?

The second most popular form of escapism is addictions such as alcoholism and drug addiction. Unfortunately, these phenomena have been familiar to mankind for quite a long time. Many people choose this way of escape from reality, thus becoming hostages of their own habit and state of affect.

There is also workaholism. While many perceive it as a positive phenomenon, in fact, nothing but escape from reality and a huge impact on the psychological and physical state, this form of escapism does not carry. Fully immersed in work, a person often forgets about his personal life, family and loved ones, and most importantly – about himself. And over time, the inner voice, designed to inform about desires, goals and dreams, sounds quieter and quieter, which means that a happy life is getting farther away.

Since escapism is a psychological feature, to learn how to manage it and not to expose your life to a certain kind of danger, it is important to understand how this mechanism is organized.

Causes of escapism

In psychology, escapism is interpreted primarily as a way of psychological defense against anxiety. Also here you can see the mechanism of displacement. Even the very phrases “escape from reality”, “escape from attention” indicate this.

Another psychological definition connects the emergence of escapism with the problem of developing new adaptation mechanisms to the social environment. In other words, only changes are constant in the surrounding world, and the need to adapt to them causes the need to periodically escape from reality.

In this connection we analyze escapism from two sides: both positive, when it becomes a strategy of adaptation or a condition for creativity and self-realization, and negative – as a deviation from the norm and a mechanism of psychological defense.

Let us return to the positive manifestation of escapism. It favorably affects the quality of human life, promotes well-being and personal development.

Healthy escapism is most often away from prescribed social activity and allows a person to look inside themselves, gain skills and knowledge. For example, it might be reading books, engaging in creative or sporting activities, or traveling.

Negative escapism is the complete withdrawal of the individual into the “other” world. Often it is not only about changing the environment and standard of living, which in such a phenomenon suffer in the first place, but also about the transformation of the psyche. After all, we are talking about running away from one’s own self. We can say that healthy and unhealthy escapism differ in the depth of immersion in “other” worlds, as well as in the measure of the difficulty of returning back.

So, if escapism is peculiar to absolutely every person, how to minimize its possible negative manifestations? It is important to realize that it is actually an important practice for maintaining balance. At the same time, in order for escapism to have an exceptionally positive effect, it is also necessary to maintain balance. That’s a play on words. How to put it into practice?

How do we arrive at balance?

1. define time boundaries

Agree, there is a difference between devoting an evening to a fresh series, and the next day rested to continue making plans for the future; and spending the entire weekend in front of the screen, sacrificing communication with family, training and all other important tasks.

Taking some time to escape from the routine is like making room and replenishing our resources, which then helps us cope later on. This is a time to regroup. But remember the dosage. Escapism is useful in small doses. In large ones, it can be addictive.

2. Getting away from reality is “not far off.”

We all love to make plans, but long-term planning is becoming less and less effective. So sometimes, to solve a problem, you just need to shift your focus and start thinking about the near future.

Plan pleasures and activities that are within your own power. Arrange to meet up with friends on the weekend, cook a new recipe for dinner, or make an appointment for a massage soon.

3. Remember Responsibility

Though it may sound strange, we are also responsible for our dreams and fantasies. Escapism is not the answer. It will not change our lives. It is only a tool, a survival mechanism that must be skillfully managed so that it does not control you.

4. Do not devalue fantasies

We cannot influence global events and many things around us, but we are able to control our fantasies. Use them to shift your attention from painful things that are out of your control to things you have the power to change. Fantasies are tools that allow a person to become more familiar with themselves. With their wants, needs, ideas.

Combining this rule with the previous one (#3) will allow us to be more relaxed, which means we can think more rationally and logically.

5. Find like-minded people

Watching a movie together, playing board games with friends, or reading books with your kids all help not only to distract ourselves, but also to bond. This way you can maintain important social ties, as well as the microclimate in the family.

6. Listen to yourself

If you know that going to a bar after work will help you relax, go. New episodes of your favorite TV show have come out – take a look. Only you know what form of escapism is good for you.

Engage in self-reflection.

Since you realize that escapism is an escape from reality, to keep it under control, you must have an answer to the question, “What am I escaping from?”.

There is a lot of duality in the world. The same tool, phenomenon or thing can bring both creation and destruction. This is true of escapism as well. People can use it both to benefit and to harm themselves.

Realizing what negative consequences can hide behind this mechanism of our psyche, it is important:

• first, to be aware of its manifestations;

• secondly – to manage it using the rules above;

• thirdly – to monitor its impact on your life.

If you notice that withdrawal from reality has become too frequent, it affects the quality of your life and relationships with people (and most importantly – with yourself), it is necessary to contact a psychologist or psychotherapist. Together you can restore balance and a way of life in which escapism will once again become a useful tool for development and moving forward.